NaNoWriMo–National Novel Writing Month–begins November 1st. This is how many writers feel about it:

Yeah, you know that movie, don’t pretend you don’t.

I have not in the past participated in this gloriously horrific event. I just didn’t have the time, the brainpower, the energy, or the inspiration to do so.

Or so I thought.

I’ve had an epiphany the past few months that has translated itself into a big ol’ glass of NaNoWriMo Koolaid, and I’m ready to chug it like a 9-year-old sugar addict.

No one has the time for Nano. Unless you’re, say, Dean Koontz or Mary Higgins Clark or Veronica Roth or something, and this is what you do for a living.

One of my heroes, Deirdra Eden Boyd (author of the amazing new book Watchers: Knight of Light which you can check out at www.knightess.com) once said that EVERYONE has the same amount of time. No one “finds” time anywhere–what we have to do is PROTECT our time, and dedicate it to our craft. I have to protect my writing time from Facebook and anything else that encroaches on it, once a day, for 30 days, in order to write a 50,000 word novel.

Can I do it?

Oh–my epiphany. I almost forgot. The epiphany I’ve had goes along with Deirdra’s thoughts about protecting time. I realized that I’ve been putting off writing until I have time. I will never have time. I will never have energy. I will never have brain power. Mainly, these things were just excuses.

If I am a writer, I should be writing. That’s what we do. So my goal, at least for the month of November, is this:

1)I will PROTECT my time, and write about 1500 words a day.

2)I will write even when I don’t have “energy” because I know that I am ENERGIZED by the act of writing and creating.

3)I will write even when I don’t feel like my brain is working. The brain has to be exercised in order to gain power, and writing works it out. The more I write, the more I’ll write. The more I’ll create. The sharper my mind will become.

I saw a billboard the other day. Actually, I see it all the time. It’s been sticking with me lately though:

I am afraid of committing to NaNoWriMo–to writing 50,000 words in a month.

I am afraid of writing the story of REMNANTS–what the hell do I think I’m doing, writing a science fiction dystopian family adventure? A TRILOGY no less?

I am afraid of what happens when I finish.

I am also afraid of what will happen if I don’t do this. I worry that my creative soul will dry up and die if I don’t get back to the business of writing. Since that idea terrifies me more than the fear of failure, I am jumping into National Novel Writing Month, and I am determined to win!